In re Bergstrom

INTRODUCTION

Petitioner Robert Quinlan Bergstrom (petitioner) filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in our court after the magistrate court issued a no-bail order and the superior court denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner is currently incarcerated at Fresno County Jail. In July 2024, a criminal complaint was filed alleging he committed several Penal Code violations, to wit: lewd acts upon a child (§ 288, subd. (a), counts 1, 3, & 7), oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years of age or younger (§ 288.7, subd. (b), counts 2, 5, & 6), a forcible lewd act on a child (§ 288, subd. (b)(1), count 4), and continuous sexual abuse of a child (§ 288.5, subd. (a), count 8). (Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.) After holding a hearing, the magistrate ordered petitioner held without bail and it reiterated that holding after conducting an automatic review of the no-bail order. In his petition for a writ of habeas corpus before the superior court and our court, petitioner argued: 1) the evidence before the magistrate did not provide grounds for denial of bail outright, i.e., there was insufficient evidence he committed a…